The Repeal of DACA Could Be Devastating to Already Struggling Urban Schools

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 5:15 pm By Shane Phipps

President Trump’s repeal of an Obama era immigration policy called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known by the acronym, DACA could have devastating consequences for already struggling urban public schools. Under DACA, protections have been offered for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as young children. DACA provided some amnesty for these people because they had no control over their situations—often they grew up not even knowing that they were here illegally. To date, over 800,000... Read more

Conservative Christian Trump Supporters, How Can You Support the Repeal of DACA?

Last updated on: September 4, 2017 at 9:33 pm By Shane Phipps

President Trump continues to do everything within his power–perhaps even things beyond his power–to wipe away all record that Barack Obama was ever president. The latest example is the repeal of DACA, the program that provides a level of amnesty and work permits for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as young children. Trump’s biggest base of support remains conservative Christians and, even though this action seems about as un-Christian as it can be, I hear no protest... Read more

What a Utah Nurse’s Arrest Reveals About White Privilege

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 4:41 pm By Shane Phipps

What is different about this case is the sort of people that are outraged by it. Read more

We Don’t Need Your Nashville Statement, We Know What You Think Already

Last updated on: September 1, 2017 at 2:35 pm By Shane Phipps

You continue to single out one "sin" and harp upon it above all others--a very unbiblical thing to do. Read more

Giving Up a Little Bit of Me So You Can Be You

Last updated on: October 4, 2017 at 8:33 am By Shane Phipps

That’s me in that picture. I was about 18 then and I was in the height of my glory at that moment. I was in the place I loved the most, East Tennessee. The place of my father’s birth, the place where my grandparents had a small farm in a beautiful valley in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. Although I was born and raised a flatlander in a small farm town in Central Indiana, it was Southern Appalachian culture that... Read more

I’ve Had It With the Lost Causers: The Cause of the Civil War Matters

Last updated on: August 25, 2017 at 11:28 am By Shane Phipps

More than 150 years after the end of the Civil War, historians still debate what really caused the bloodiest conflict in the nation’s history. There are a good many people, especially Southerners, who will argue that the Civil War was less about slavery and more about states’ rights. I have always had a hard time swallowing that argument. To me, saying the Civil War was not caused by slavery but rather states’ rights is akin to saying that the main... Read more

Symptoms Change, Flare Up and Recede, but the Disease Remains the Same

Last updated on: August 21, 2017 at 10:07 pm By Shane Phipps

My wife and I had an argument last night. We don’t talk often about politics but, when we do, it can become an emotional discussion. She’s a smart cookie, my wife. She was salutatorian of her high school class and a regular on her college dean’s list as she prepared for her career as a microbiologist. Politically, she’s remained pretty steady in the 25 years I’ve known her. I, on the other hand, have made a political pilgrimage that I have... Read more

Blessed are the Peacemakers–a Message for the Resistance

Last updated on: August 20, 2017 at 9:55 pm By Shane Phipps

Photo: Washington Star-Bernie Boston (1967) When you see them, it is easy to let rage overtake you–yes, I feel it, too. These angry men shouting disgusting things, wearing symbols of hate, carrying flags of oppression, they are easy targets for retaliatory hatred. Human nature drives us to pick up baseball bats and meet them in the streets matching shout for shout and, eventually, blow for blow. That’s what would feel good in the heat of the moment. But human nature... Read more

The Message about Racism that I Took from a Movie You Probably Didn’t See

Last updated on: September 1, 2017 at 9:33 am By Shane Phipps

Sometime in late 2015, I began to hear a buzz about a Civil War movie that was to come out, starring Matthew McConaughey, called Free State of Jones. As it turns out, way too few people saw the film and it underperformed at the box office, unfortunately. The more I read about the movie, based upon a true story (and a book by Victoria Bynum), the more excited I became to see it. I was surprised that I had never heard of... Read more

Hands of Time

Last updated on: August 18, 2017 at 9:32 pm By Shane Phipps

They say the eyes are the widow to the soul. Perhaps that’s true. But I think the hands have a great deal to tell us, too. I’ve always loved to look at and study the hands of older people. In fact, when I reflect upon dearly departed loved ones in my life, especially my grandparents, the first physical feature that comes to mind is not their eyes, but their hands. All my grandparents have gone on to their eternal rewards.... Read more